By: ELEANOR KLIBANOFF
The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Cox did not qualify for an abortion, even as it clarified in that ruling that a medical emergency need not be imminent to justify performing the procedure. Several groups, including the anti-abortion Texas Alliance for Life, called on the board to add this language to the guidance, which Zaafran said they would consider.
By: Celine Castronuovo
The Texas Alliance for Life argued Friday the Texas law is necessary, claiming it is “saving unborn babies’ and pregnant women’s lives.”
“The law allows doctors to perform abortions to save pregnant women’s lives in rare and tragic cases when medically necessary,” said Amy O’Donnell, the organization’s communications director.
By: Amy O'Donnell
O’Donnell, at the meeting of the Texas Medical Board. The Board will consider promulgating guidance to physicians treating women with pregnancies that risk the loss of a woman’s life or a major bodily function. The statement by Ms. O’Donnell emphasizes that Texas’ abortion laws have a medical-necessity exception to allow physicians to perform abortions in such rare and tragic cases. During the first 16 months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, doctors have performed 71 abortions under the medical-necessity exception, according to data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, with no liability for the physicians.
By: Olivia Goldhill
“We think that timing is overdue for the Texas Medical Board to act,” said Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group.
By: Constitutional Nobody
“We are grateful that the Texas Supreme Court affirmed the protections in Texas law for the unborn baby in this case,” said Amy O’Donnell, Texas Alliance for Life’s communications director. “Texas Alliance for Life strongly supports the law, as passed by the Texas Legislature, that protects unborn babies from abortion but also protects the lives and health of pregnant mothers through limited exceptions.”
The Supreme Court pointed out that Texas’ law allows abortions when a pregnancy endangers a mother’s life or risks substantial impairment of a major bodily function (such as fertility) in a doctor’s reasonable medical judgment, an objective standard.
Deirdre Cooper, a public policy analyst for Texas Alliance for Life, gave a statement about her son Bosco, who died before birth from Trisomy 18, known as Edwards syndrome. “Carrying Bosco in my womb was the greatest honor of my life,” she said. “For four months, I had the privilege of sharing his story with anyone who asked about my pregnancy. Each day, I woke up thanking God that Bosco was still alive. We had been granted one more day with him — what a blessing! It also allowed us to plan his funeral and prepare our children for his impending death.”
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Texas Alliance for Life submitted an amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief on behalf of 92 members of the Texas Legislature, making the point that nowhere in the state constitution is there a right to abortion.
The Court is expected to issue a decision in the coming months.